Check out President Susan Shin’s New York Law Journal article, “Ensuring Rights of Non- and Limited-English Speakers,” published in the Law Day issue. In this Special Report, bench and bar leaders share their thoughts on the Miranda rights. Susan shares her thoughts about the challenges in protecting these rights for non- and limited-English speakers in particular:

Even I, a native English speaker, found the terms difficult to understand before becoming a lawyer. How much more difficult is it for a non-native English speaker who does not understand legal concepts and implications of, for example, the “right to remain silent,” “waiver,” and “consent”? Still, many respond in the affirmative when asked if they understand and consent to questioning and waive their rights, even if they failed to comprehend the words being communicated to them.

Click here to access Susan’s article. Click here for a PDF of the article. To view all the Law Day articles, including articles from Acting Presiding Justice Peter Tom and Presiding Justice Randall T. Eng, click here.

Join the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) on Thursday, May 5, for a special presentation by attorney Brian Sun about Chinese American scientists facing FBI investigations and federal prosecutions for economic espionage. Is the Justice Department engaged in the racial profiling of Asian American citizens? How should the Asian American community respond?

The failed criminal prosecution of Chinese American Professor Xiaoxing Xi at Temple University and the firing of National Weather Service employee Sherry Chen raise serious questions about the civil liberties of all Americans. An article in April 26's New York Times reports that the Justice Department will assert greater oversight over national security cases. But will a growing number of Chinese American scientists, government employees, and tech professionals still be targeted for investigations?

Brian Sun, a partner at Jones Day, AALDEF 2001 Justice in Action Award recipient, and member of Committee of 100, will speak about the historical context of recent cases and the current political climate that has unfairly placed Chinese American scientists under a cloud of suspicion. Mr. Sun was on the legal team representing Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee, who was falsely accused of being a Chinese spy and received a federal judge's apology based on the government's misconduct.

If you’ve been following the Presidential election, you’ve heard Donald Trump call for a database tracking all Muslim Americans and Ted Cruz suggest banning Muslim refugees purely on their religion. While this nativism is not new, dating back to 9/11 and before, these examples show how crucial right-wing xenophobia remains for American nationalism. Come hear attorney/activist Deepa Iyer read from her crucial new book, We Too Sing America: South Asian, Arab, Muslim and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future (New Press 2016). She’ll discuss the targeting of South Asian, Arab, Muslim and Sikh Americans with Arab American Association of New York Youth Lead Organizer Aber Kawas and ACLU National Security Project Director Hina Shamsi. Headlining the event will be queer performance artist YaliniDream, a Tamil Sri Lankan activist and one of the most prominent performance poets in the South Asian American community.

This event is being held by the Asian American Writer's Workshop and being co-sponsored by AABANY, SABANY, and NAPAWF*NYC.

In the 1970s, after the fall of Saigon, thousands of Vietnamese fled their country. Many emigrated to the United States, where they found opportunity shrimping and fishing in the waters of the Gulf Coast. There, they thrived, despite long odds and difficult conditions. Some American shrimpers took offense. They called in the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan sponsored a rally with a cross-burning to protest the Vietnamese presence, and patrolled the waters in a boat carrying hooded and armed Klansmen. Several Vietnamese shrimp boats were set on fire. In 1981, a group of Vietnamese fishermen sued the Klan in federal court in Houston, seeking an injunction to stop the Klan’s campaign of violence and intimidation.

This presentation by members of the Asian American Bar Association of New York, including Cadwalader attorneys and the Honorable Denny Chin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, will tell the story of the Vietnamese Fishermen and the Ku Klux Klan, through narration, reenactment of court proceedings, and historic photographs. For this presentation, we will be joined by the lead trial attorney for the Fishermen, Morris Dees, Esq., of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Co-sponsored by: Hispanic National Bar Association (NY Region), Korean American Lawyers Association of Greater New York, South Asian Bar Association of New York, and
Metropolitan Black Bar Association of New York.

All who are interested in participating in the Corporate Law Committee are invited to a kick-off meeting to plan for the coming year and share opportunities to help out and ideas about programs and events that you'd like to see in the future. The kick-off meeting will be at the offices of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, 51 West 52nd Street (at the corner of 6th Ave), beginning at 6:30pm. Light snacks and beverages will be provided.

The Young Lawyers Committee will have its first meeting of the 2016-2017 year on May 17, 2016 at Lee Anav Chung White & Kim LLP. Meet your new co-chairs, discuss potential events for the year, and network with other young lawyers. Food will be provided.

You constantly hear that it’s not enough to work hard to be successful in your legal career. It’s also common for senior attorneys to emphasize the importance of networking, developing relationships and branding. But how do you even begin, especially if these things don’t come naturally to you? And what do you do if you’re naturally an introvert?

Please join us for the second installment of a unique group mentoring series led by Steve Chung (Senior Vice President of News for NBCUniversal and former AABANY Director) that aims to break down abstract concepts like “networking” and “branding” and translate them into concrete, actionable strategies that can help advance your career.

In this second installment, Steve and a panel of law firm partners and senior in-house counsel will discuss specific strategies, behaviors, and attitudes that you can implement and adopt in order to increase your social awareness and improve the way you present yourself.

Austin So has written another Letter to the Editor about the lack of diversity and inclusion for Asian Americans. This time, he speaks about whitewashing and Hollywood in response to Keith Chow’s “Why Hollywood Won’t Cast Asian Actors.” As stated by Austin,

Once again, Asian-Americans are excluded from the diversity dialogue. And that has real impact, as we see with the casting of white actors to play the main characters, who are Asian, in “Doctor Strange” and “Ghost in the Shell.”

On April 23, Board Director Sonia Low was honored by the Brooklyn Law School APALSA. Sonia (’98) and Blaise Chow (’00) were honored at Brooklyn Law School APALSA’s 2016 Alumni Luncheon.

Sonia spoke about her love for food and the importance of staying in touch with one's peers and clients, both of which paved the way for her to become General Counsel of the One Group. Blaise gave an uplifting speech about his “scrappy” beginnings as a law student who made his way up the ladder with 3 young kids in tow.

AABANY is proud to have members such as Sonia and Blaise among our ranks. Please join us in congratulating them. Thanks to Amy Ngai and Irene Tan for the details. Click here for photos from Brooklyn Law School APALSA.

Help AABANY’s Career Placement Committee help you. Launched at the 2013 Fall Conference, the Career Placement Committee seeks to match qualified AABANY members with available legal positions. AABANY members who are actively seeking or are considering seeking a new position are encouraged to complete the Career Placement Committee Intake Form at http://bit.ly/cpc_intake2015 and email resumes/CVs to resume@aabany.org.

All information disclosed will be treated with the utmost confidentiality. If you have any questions or comments, please contact the Career Placement Committee at careers@aabany.org.

Seeking hard-working volunteers to work on appellate matters. Great resume builder, as position entails researching and writing memos/draft opinions on civil and/or criminal matters. Part or Full-time. Willing to fill out forms for law school fellowship, if applicant is eligible.

Applications are now being accepted for AABANY’s 2016 Legal Internship Program. Open to college students, law students and law grads, AABANY is looking for a few talented, energetic and motivated interns to help plan and organize AABANY programs and events, provide research and administrative assistance and perform other tasks and assignments to advance and promote AABANY’s mission. Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis. For full details and information on how to apply go to bit.ly/Lgl_Intrn_Details.

The Community Development Project of the Urban Justice Center announces the opportunity to apply for sponsorship for post-graduate legal fellowships starting in the fall of 2017 (applications due fall 2016). Fellowship announcements can be found on AABANY's website under Resources, in the sub-menu item "Fellowships." To see current announcements for Fellowships go to http://bit.ly/aabany_flwshps.

For more information on these listings and other open positions go to the AABANY Career Center. Members must be signed in to have access to the Career Center. Either search by keyword or just hit "Search" at the bottom of the form to see a complete listing of jobs.